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Friday, March 14, 2014

9 Skills for the Four Levels of Customer Service

In the modular home factory the term Customer Service takes
on a different meaning for each management and sales position but it all falls
into the interpersonal relationship bucket.

Each employee of the company is involved in customer
service. Some only interact with others in the factory and many only work with
the builder and the new home owner. For lack of a better term, I’ll call each
relationship Customer Service. I've divided the factory into 4 levels of Customer Service.

In this first level, it’s management (“customer”) that needs the
service. Owners that ignore servicing these management customers will
isolate themselves and the company will fail. The owners of a modular factory will never see their company survive and thrive without working with the management team they have put together.

The second level of Customer Service finds all
non-management employees as the “customer” wanting to vent and ask for help.
Sales Managers need to service the needs of their sales reps. Supervisor have
to service their production line customers and the Engineering supervisor needs
to be continually servicing their CAD and design people.

The third level is the one, and sometimes the only one, that
owners and management even think about when they hear Customer Service. This is
the one between the sales rep and the builder. As important as this is, it is
only one cog in the wheel that makes the factory work smoothly.

The fourth level of factory customer service just might be the
most important and that is the relationship between the Service Manager and the
builder. Being the bridge between a happy builder and one that will never buy
from the factory again, the Service Manager is the real key to continuing
sales. Lose the builder’s confidence in factory service and they will buy from
someone else.

But identifying the four levels of customer service is only
the beginning. There are universal skills everyone in the four levels must
possess. Below are 9 of the most needed skills that matter to keep the factory
chugging along.

1. Patience

If you don't see this near the top of a customer service
skills list, you should just stop reading. Not only is patience important to
customers, who often reach out for support when they are confused and
frustrated, but it's also important to factory as a whole.

Everyone in the modular home business works with “customers”
on a daily basis Be sure to stay patient when they come to you stumped and
frustrated, but also be sure to take the time to truly figure out what they
want — they'd rather get competent service than be rushed out the door!

2. Attentiveness

The ability to really listen to customers is so
crucial for providing great service for a number of reasons. Stop, Look and
LISTEN is more than a sign at the railroad crossing.

3. Clear Communication Skills

It's okay to find out more about your customers, but make
sure you're getting to the problem at hand quickly; customers don't need your
life story or to hear about how your day is going.

More importantly, you need to be cautious about how some of
your communication habits translate to customers, and it's best to err on the
side of caution whenever you find yourself questioning a situation.

4. Knowledge of the Product

This is something that should be worked on every day. Each
level of customer service needs to know what is being sold at the factory.
Updates, improvements and new options happen just about every day. New
procedures have to addressed constantly. When one of your factory “customers”
needs some service, not knowing the product is a killer.

5. Ability to Use "Positive Language"

Sounds like fluffy nonsense, but your ability to make minor
changes in your conversational patterns can truly go a long way in
creating happy customers.

Language is a very important part of persuasion, and people create
perceptions about you and the factory based off of the language that you use.

6. Acting Skills

Let's get real honest here... sometimes you're going to come
across people that you'll never be able to make happy.

Situations outside of your control (they had a terrible day,
or they are just a natural-born complainer) will sometimes creep into your
usual support routine, and you'll be greeted with those "barnacle"
customers that seem to want nothing else but to pull you down.

You must have those basic acting skills necessary
to maintain your usual cheery persona in spite of dealing with people who may
be just plain grumpy.

7. Time Management Skills

Hey, despite the best research-backed rants on why you
should spend more time with customers, the bottom line is that there is a
limit, and you need to be concerned with getting customers what they want in
an efficient manner.

The trick here is that this should also be applied when
realizing when you simply cannot help someone. Don't waste time trying to
go above and beyond for a customer in an area where you will just end up
wasting both of your time! Find someone that can ease their pain.

8. Ability to Handle Surprises

Sometimes the customer is going to throw you a curveball!

Maybe the problem you encounter isn't specifically covered
in the company's guidelines, or maybe the customer isn't reacting how you
thought they would. Whatever the case, it's best to be able to think on your
feet... but it's even better to create guidelines for yourself in
these sorts of situations.

9. Closing Ability

Being able to close with a customer means being
able to end the conversation with confirmed satisfaction (or as close to it as
you can achieve) and with the customer feeling that everything has been taken
care of (or will be).

Getting booted after a customer service call or before all
of their problems have been addressed is the last thing that
customers want, so be sure to take the time to confirm with customers that each
and every issue they had on deck has been entirely resolved.

Your willingness to do this shows the customer 3 very
important things:

That
you care about getting it right

That
you're willing to keep going until you get it right

That
the customer is the one who determines what
"right" is.

When you get a customer to, "Yes, I'm all set!" is
when you know the conversation is over!

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I work in the office of one the largest modular home factories in PA and I see first hand what the failure of level one and level four of your story does to a morale. Even though I have worked here for 8 years, I hate this place. The owner walks around and only talks to a couple of people and ignores the rest of us. I get so tired of dealing with angry builders that have either had no repairs done on their houses or haven't been reimbursed for labor and repairs.